THE NEW YORK TIMES
Show Us Your Walls
By Farah Nayeri
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| Fatima Maleki, at her home in London, with Anselm Kiefer’s 2009 painting “San Loreto.” |
LONDON -- For the last couple of decades, the Iranian-born Fatima Maleki and her husband, Eskandar, have been donors to museums such as the Tate, helped found new prizes and collected art, as well as hosting artists at Ms. Maleki’s famous dinners. At vast tables, guests fill their plates with foods redolent of Iran, like albaloo polo, a rice dish made with sour cherry, and pomegranate stew eaten over saffron rice. "At the beginning, we bought a lot of young artists. We opened our house and did dinners because we wanted to connect people. Someone I know said: “Why don’t you start by inviting young artists that nobody invites? Go to the East End of London, go to the studios, and connect them with collectors and galleries, because people invite collectors but don’t invite artists.” [
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| “Bust” (2010), in cast iron, by Antony Gormley in the Maleki home. The sculpture replaced another Gormley, spikier in character, that would get entangled with the clothing and accessories of guests. Credit: Tom Jamieson for The New York Times |
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| “Afro Apparition” (2002-2003) in acrylic, oil, glitter and, among other mediums, elephant dung, by Chris Ofili. Credit: Tom Jamieson for The New York Times |
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| “Untitled” (2004), in alabaster, by Anish Kapoor. Credit: Anish Kapoor/DACS, London/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Tom Jamieson for The New York Times |
